Can you get herpes from a toilet seat?

Answer 1

It would be nearly impossible to get herpes from a toilet seat. You are much more likely to transmit oral herpes to your own genitals via fingers or some other object than to pick it up from a toilet seat. Most people are unaware that they have herpes, and that's why a diagnosis can seem like it came out of the blue. It is understandable that a toilet seat would seem to be a more likely explanation than the idea that the virus could have caused no noticable symptoms for years; however, the epidemiology just doesn't back up the hypothesis. With so many days of asymptomatic viral shedding, household transmission among families, including an epidemic of genital herpes in children, would be an obvious phenomenon.

Herpes is common, it can be transmitted by oral sex among two people who have never had another partner, and it can be contagious when a person has no symptoms. These are much more likely explanations for herpes infection than toilet seats.

I have genital herpes. According to everything I have read from the CDC and other reputable sources the herpes virus can live outside the human body for up to a few hours. Therefore, it is conceivably possible that you could catch the virus from an inatimate object such as a toilet seat, but HIGHLY unlikely. The most common transmission of the disease happens from direct sexual contact with someone infected with the virus while they are having an outbreak (meaning they currently have open or active sores or blisters) that the other sexual partner comes into contact with. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) also says that one in four women have genital herpes, and one in eight men have it as well. My recommendation is to do as much of your own research as possible, and my opinion is that you CANNOT catch herpes from a toilet seat if you at least wipe clean a toilet seat prior to using it or use a toilet seat protector.

It would be nearly impossible to catch herpes from a toilet.

Yes. It can remain for up to two hours on the surface.

What would need to be covered up? The way a husband got it when his wife of 20 years doesn't have it, well, she didn't have it? It could be the affair he's trying to hide, but he doesn't really need to blame it on the innocent toilet, the herpes virus can lay dormant in the body for 10, 20 years and then out of nowhere have an outbreak.
Not Medical Advice----Depending one what part he uses and what part you touch but normally herpes is not contagious unless you come in direct contact with it. There is a possibility that if you touch something the herpes has touched you could get it but the odds are slimmer especially if you watch up right away.

Using the same toilet seat usually will not get you it unless the herpes had much contact with the toilet seat itself.